Page 21 of Roommate Wanted (Knotty #1)

Nia

The bedroom door snapped shut behind him.

He didn’t shout, rage or threaten me.

He didn’t need to.

A lone tear trickled out.

I had no control of my body during the heat period, and now he used this—thing inside of me to control me. I angrily wiped away the tear and climbed out of bed, my muscles protesting at the sudden movement.

His bedroom reeked of us.

I was looking for some clothes when I remembered what I felt when I woke up.

It was him.

I could feel his emotions.

The affection, possession, and—I shook my head.

He was toying with me. I gave up looking for clothes and returned to my destroyed bedroom.

With a shudder, I shut out the memory of misery and need.

It didn’t work.

Visions of our time together flickered like an old movie in my head—everything, even how I’d begged for his knot.

I could still hear myself moaning his name, feel the phantom ache of his knot locking inside me.

That wasn’t me.

This wasn't me.

Out of nowhere, I felt him.

I rubbed my chest at his disapproval.

The cold, invasive feeling didn’t leave me.

My eyes drifted to the destruction around me.

My bed covers lay beneath the window, reminding me of how I sought comfort that night.

Shards of glass lay shattered across the floor.

My shelves were overturned, and my mountain of pillows lay scattered, half on the bed, with the rest strewn across the room.

The chaotic mess before me resembled my mind.

I closed my eyes briefly.

I needed my phone.

If I still had a job, I might still have a future.

Something outside of this. Away from him.

**

After a few hours of cleaning, I knew I’d have to leave the bedroom, if only to get food, cleaning supplies, and find my phone.

I stood before the door, forcing myself to take slow, even breaths.

He wasn’t human.

I didn’t know what he could do, or what I’d find on the other side.

I cracked the door open and peeked out.

The hallway was empty.

Then I looked down.

A tray sat neatly on the floor. Inside was a sandwich sealed in cellophane, an apple, a banana, and bottled water—like something a nurse might leave for a patient. I blinked against the sudden burn in my eyes.

He hand-fed me food and his come for four fucking days. And now what? A ham sandwich and a bottle of water to say sorry?

I wasn’t eating a goddamn thing that bastard gave me.

With my fists clenched, I stormed down the hallway, gathered everything I needed from the kitchen, and dumped it unceremoniously in my room. Then I stalked back to the living room.

He was sprawled out on the couch, like he hadn’t shattered my life with his voodoo shit. One arm tucked behind his head, the other resting casually on his stomach. Watching me.

“Where is my phone?”

I hissed, every word sharp with barely contained fury.

He didn’t even blink.

“In ma pocket,”

he said lazily.

“Come ahn get it.”

“You’ve had your fun, okay? You’ve ruined me, my life, so at least have the fucking decency to leave me alone!”

I exploded, letting all my festering resentment finally spill over.

The air went still.

His smirk vanished.

“Am no yer enemy,”

he said, low and steady.

Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door. I ran to the door and yanked it open. My chance at freedom—

“Oh, yer awake?”

The ginger one said.

“Naw, ya fanny. She is sleepwalking.”

The dark-haired one muttered.

More Scottish beasts.

Before I could retreat, I backed straight into a wall of heat and muscle.

Lyall’s hands landed on my shoulders like they belonged there.

“Easy now, darlin’. They’re part of ma pack.”

I couldn’t breathe. My skin crawled, throat tight as their gazes crawled over me, calculating and amused.

He didn’t just cage me in my home.

He brought reinforcements.

**

I made myself scarce, not wanting to be surrounded by wolves, but it didn’t stop me from listening to them from my bedroom door. Callum and Ewan were living in the apartment next door. I didn’t know they had moved in, but what happened to the man who used to live there?

Addison. I forgot about her. What did they do to Addison?

Fear blossomed at the pit of my stomach.

What if—

Lyall pushed my door open. He shoved past me, his hand automatically catching my waist to steady me as he looked around frantically before he turned to face me.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I stared at him in confusion before I remembered the damn bond. My spine stiffened.

“Did you kill Addison?”

“Yae think ah murdered the wee lassie?”

“Your men probably killed my neighbour, so why not Addison?”

He leapt forward and grabbed my wrist. I tried to twist it out of his hold, but he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

His men chuckled as he marched past them towards the front door.

“Aww. Isn’t that nice? He’s taking his mate fur a wee walk.”

“She dusnae look tae be enjoying it.”

“Aye, she hud tae put up wae him fur four days.”

“Hmm. She probably needs a wee break fae him.”

Their laughter followed us, and I could have screamed in frustration. They knew what we did. Of course they did.

We were outside, but instead of going down, he walked to the neighbour's door. The door was unlocked, and the layout was similar to my apartment, but it was difficult to tell, being upside down. He carried me into a room and stood me up.

The wall was covered with my pictures from the skirting board to the ceiling. Years' worth of posting on social media. Red caught my eye, and I saw a maze of red string on another wall. It was all sectioned out. My work, family, ex-boyfriends, and—

“I bought yer neighbour's lease and offered him a year's worth of free rent in another apartment. I did the same wae Addison, but ah asked her to deactivate her social media for a couple of months ahn no tae respond tae yae. Am many things, but am no ah murderer.”

I was standing in a crime scene or a shrine.

No, he wasn’t a murderer.

He was a dirty stalking bastard.

I ripped a photo of me in my underwear off the wall and waved it in his face.

“You’ve got cameras in my room?”

I seethed.

He stood there unrepentant and shrugged.

“My wolf made me do it.”

Was he for real?

“Your wolf made you do it?”

I asked sarcastically.

He nodded solemnly.

“He’s a terrible influence. Yae should’ve seen the way he sulked when I wouldn’t put a camera in your bathroom.”

“You’re both sick,” I gasped.

His eyes turned predatory, darkening not with anger but hunger. He took a step towards me. My chest burned. The heat rose up to my neck.

“No,”

I whispered when a dull ache between my legs began to throb like a beating drum.

“This is how ah felt since the moment I scented yae. The moment ah found ma mate,”

he murmured, closing in on me.

He placed his hand on the centre of my chest as my back hit the wall.

“Feel that? That flutter under yer skin? That’s the bond hummin’. Wantin’. All I need tae do is think about claimin’ yae again and it pulses tae life.”

“Get away from me,”

I whispered.

He smirked and dropped his hand, but nothing changed. The ache didn’t go away, and he knew it.

“I will. But when yae start panting in yer bed tonight, grindin’ against the sheets and whimperin’ my name—you’ll ken exactly who put that heat in yae.”

I winced, recalling rubbing myself on his clothes.

My body craved his touch against my will, and he was weaponising it against me. Twisting the bond until it wrapped around my throat like a dog leash. Even my own desire betrayed me until I didn’t know what was real.

Was this arousal mine or his?

I pressed a hand to my chest, hoping to calm the fluttering.

It only beat harder.

There was no escape. No safe space inside me he couldn’t reach.

There was no way out.